The Waitaki District Council, which manages 23 water supplies in its area, is proposing to spend about $9.5 million over the next five years upgrading its water supplies to meet Ministry of Health drinking water standards.
Most of the schemes are rural supplies, most of the water being used for stock.
The council has already spent $12 million upgrading the Oamaru water supply.
Next financial year it proposes to start on the Palmerston, Dunback, Goodwood, Enfield and Weston schemes.
Other schemes follow, with the upgrade scheduled for completion in the 2013-14 financial year.
Dr Brookes welcomed the review of the drinking water standards, particularly those applying to small rural water schemes.
"There is no need to rush upgrading because there is a strong possibility standards may be changed," she said.
She questioned whether farmers on the schemes wanted to put water up to drinking water standards into animals.
The council's assets manager, Neil Jorgensen, said this week the council still had to programme the upgrading work in its 10-year Long Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).
It would wait to see what happened with any review undertaken by the Government.
The work planned for the next financial year involved urban areas - Palmerston with the Goodwood and Dunback schemes possibly sharing one treatment plant, and Weston-Enfield possibly taking water from the upgraded Oamaru plant.
Any changes in standards were more likely to affect the rural water schemes and one option was the Government pushing the deadline for upgrading further out, he said.
Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide has asked the ministry to review the costs of upgrading small water schemes and suggested a moratorium to the deadline of 2013 to meet the new standards.
